


The Garden of the Unwanted

by dresdenlies



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Animal Abuse, Animal Death, CSA following the canon of Rule of Rose, Child Abuse, Chrovos is an intersex trans girl in this (and gets bullied for it so), Connie as Clara, Dark, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Disturbing Themes, Felix as Wendy, Gen, Hargrove as Hoffman, Loco and South as Amanda, Locus as Jennifer, Price as Meg, Rating May Change, Temple as Eleanor, Transphobia, Wash is a dog. Everyone else but Hargrove is a child, Washington as Brown, both Chex as Diana, the stray dog bit is interpreted differently, there are twice as many fairy tales but the timeline is the same
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:22:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21865159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dresdenlies/pseuds/dresdenlies
Summary: TRAGEDY, FAIRYTALE || "The unlucky boy lost all his hope and faith and trust,but one day a fire purified the kingdom from all the sins.Now he has to dispose of the ashes and the dust,thus the story begins."(Rule of Rose AU starring Red vs Blue - can be understood without playing the game)
Relationships: Chex, Felix | Isaac Gates & Locus | Samuel Ortez, Felix | Isaac Gates/Locus | Samuel Ortez, Loco & Mark Temple (Red vs. Blue), Locus | Samuel Ortez & Agent Washington, The Counselor | Aiden Price & The Director | Dr Leonard Church
Comments: 11
Kudos: 8





	1. March, 1930 : The unlucky boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShyChangling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyChangling/gifts).



> IMPORTANT:  
> Disturbing themes will be the main focus of this story. As such, you will encounter them practically all the time, presented in a more or less severe way. If you are interested in the contents or even the idea of it but want to pinpoint exactly what the more graphic bits might be, you can do so by paying attention to the following symbol_ ~○~
> 
> It will be structured this way:
> 
> ~○~  
> paragraph with graphic content  
> ~○~
> 
> You can demand a specific scene be modified to include that symbol before and after if you find it necessary. I'll comply swiftly to make the experience as safe as possible for those who have triggers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next tale: The Marvel of Peru and the Sunflower

_Once upon a time there was a man who deserved death._   
_He cruelly ruled the Kingdom of the children who didn’t belong._   
_One day the children arose and each voice claimed its breath;_   
_living by the Rule of Rose, they paved the way for a tale filthy and wrong._   
  
_The unluckiest boy of the kingdom sadly obeyed every command_   
_while mourning a sweet prince he had met in a garden._   
_Even the longing for love pierced him like a harsh demand_   
_as in tyranny even the softest hearts harden._

_So when he walked up the dreary hill_   
_and could sense a new ally nearby,_   
_he knew they’d be ordered separately to move or stay still._   
_Who was a companion and who was a lie?_

_The unlucky boy lost all his hope and faith and trust,_   
_but one day a fire purified the kingdom from all the sins._   
_Now he has to dispose of the ashes and the dust,_   
_thus_ _the story begins._

He coughs as he wakes up onto the burnt ground. The flames are still high and the smoke still arising, making him gasp, making him cling to his own neck. He turns around again and again, almost spinning in circles, desperately looking for his dog, but the barking comes from inside the building. He has to go back inside.   
With the air heavy and hot, he starts to feel dizzy, and the images confused to the point that he doesn’t know, when spotting his companion, if what he sees is real.   
He chases the dog, and his footsteps echo, the fire crackles, the smoke curls into circles and suddenly a wooden beam prepares to fall down. Covering his head with his hands, he squeezes his eyes close, but once he gathers the courage to reopen them everything is over.   
Everything is gone, and Samuel Ortez is awake in his bed. Safe, or as safe as one can be in the Chloris Garden of the Unwanted. 

He looks around in confusion. He is alone, hears no chatter coming from the lower floor. A blurred group picture lays onto his bedside table, with all the children of the orphanage standing in a row. He squints to distinguish the faces more, trying to make out familiar lineaments, but something out of his window further darkens the dusky sky.   
It’s a beautiful giant fish swimming among the clouds, its tail swinging gracefully as it flies away, swallowed by the horizon. The last gentle sun ray greets the boy from a crack in the clouds, carrying the warmth with it and leaving him in the cold. 

He looks down at his wooden toy soldiers gathered in a corner. Stiff and collected, they look like they are the ones posing for a picture. Together, both armies putting their differences aside in favour of that perceived immortalization, although General Kimball would never allow such puerile pastimes. She’s too driven and invested in fighting the federal army, Sammy thinks to himself with a smile. 

His train of thought is interrupted by someone loudly hitting his door from the other side, followed by a childish cackle.   
Something now sticks out from under the door, his boarding pass all scribbled and torn up along with a crumpled sheet of paper. It reads: 

‘ _We will now begin the funeral. All those attending please gather around at this time._ ’ 

Another line written with another crayon has been added specifically for him. 

‘ _Come on, Sammy! The funeral is about to begin. It’s a funeral for your dear friend_ _!_ ’ 

He soon pales and gulps, letting the paper fall off his hands. He rushes to the lower floor, making his way through the dark and cold corridors, through the scribbled children’s drawings popping up everywhere on the walls and floor with large eyes following him, finally reaching the door leading to the backyard. 

All he finds is a shovel firmly thrust into the ground. The mere sight of it makes his heart pound inside his chest, and he starts digging furiously, first with the shovel and then with his hands, looking almost possessed as he doesn’t care about hurting himself in the process. He feels the tears coming up more every moment, then when he finally uncovers the casket he falls on his knees with a sigh. 

It takes all his strength even to lift the lid slightly. He leans in and sticks his face between the boards to peek inside: there’s nothing but a bloody bag left. 

Footsteps behind him startle him: it’s six of the other children, four boys and two girls, all wearing bags on their heads, each bag with a different animal scribbled onto it. They are holding pots, cups and vases full of water. The oldest and tallest of the children speaks, with a voice that although squeaky is already sounding like a young man's: 

“Just look at you.” he remarks haughtily as the others surround Samuel “You are filthy!” 

He can’t but look down in shame at his own clothes getting soaked as they all spill water onto him, look at the ground getting muddy and filthy under him. They laugh at him, they taunt him, they pick on him, but he stays silent looking at the drops of water mixing with the dirt, becoming so filthy that even the moon refuses to reflect on their surface. 

Then a loud bell, followed by a lady’s voice coming from somewhere else far away from the orphanage, coming perhaps from a different world entirely, the sound swimming across the sky much like the fish: 

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us on our flight. Attention all passengers, we will be taking off in a short while. Please take all large luggage to Section 8 of the Freight Storage Compartment. Thank you!” 

A chill goes through Samuel’s spine as the cold evening breeze reaches his body soaked in water. The other kids look at one another for just a moment, as if to reach a silent agreement, and as they do so they giggle again. They approach him menaciously and start hitting him, slapping him, pulling him, and eventually they just push him inside the casket. Where he belongs. 

“No!” he tries to get up as they they grab the lid “Please!” 

He quickly starts pushing from the other side as they force the lid onto him, but no amount of struggling can match all their strengths combined. It the end, he just can passively lay down and peek at the moon in search for comfort as he is carried away. 

‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust’, the children keep chanting. Nature has made its course and now that the ceremony is over he can only fall asleep. 

What a poor, unlucky boy. 


	2. April 1930: The Marvel of Peru and the Sunflower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Samuel is invited to join the Aristocrat. He has to bring a monthly gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is only one word to describe this delay, and that word is 'UNFORGIVABLE'. Boy, I really am excited for this story, but Rule Of Rose is such a...Complex story that the idea conveying it with an au in a way that balances the gameplay dynamic is extremely ambitious, to the point that it can be paralyzing at times. For this reason I cannot promise that the updates will be regular, HOWEVER I have plenty of ideas for this beautiful project. There are more chapters planned than in the actual game, and all of them come with fairytales in the style of Rule of Rose, some made up by myself and I'm very, very excited to share them!
> 
> Little note: I changed a bit how the Clover Field Keys work, because I remember thinking 'What if it worked differently?' when confronted with how it plays out in canon - you'll know what I mean, it's a minor difference anyway so it shouldn't bother the flow too much. Also, Church's name has been shortened to Leo as a reference to the fact that in Rule Of Rose canon there is, although he never appears onscreen, an orphan named Leo and I thought it would be clever to go for that.

Sammy wakes up in a cold and near empty room. He has been tied to a pole, and all he can do is struggle as the filthy rags inside the casket beside him mock him, with the stench from their humidity rising to his nostrils. There’s no sign of his friend either. He is all alone.   
What a poor, unlucky boy. 

He hears a screeching noise coming from a speaker somewhere. A child’s voice is broadcasted, directed at him: 

“Good morning, Sammy. How do you feel? Let’s have a little chat, shall we?” 

The unlucky boy does not respond, to which the other seems to take offense. 

“Sam, you know you’ve been a bad, bad boy – and bad boys need to be punished, don’t they?” 

“Yes.” he sighs. He knows he has disobeyed for good reasons, but as usual he is alone in this struggle visible only because of the ropes around him. Yet his disobedience is on display for others to see, therefore so is his punishment. 

“You’re a brave guy.” the other child seems pleased with that inconvenient compliance, proud in the smuggest of ways “Anyway, I’ll be the one giving the orders around here, okay?” 

“No!” he grits his teeth “Let me go!” 

“Aw. You’re so silly, you still don’t understand? Well, you will soon! Now I’m going to give your first order: every month, you need to find a gift and bring it to the Aristocrat Club.” 

Sammy clenches his fists, willing to object, but before he can refuse, the voice continues: 

“If you don’t, I’ll kill you.” 

A twisted pleasure is audible in the nonchalance of that sentence, happy with the fear that’s so easily taking over. 

“Is there anything about this that you don’t understand?” 

Sammy shakes his head, staying silent. 

“Oh, well. It doesn’t really matter what you say. You see, there’s really only two kinds of people in the world: those who take orders and those give them; and from now on, I’ll be the one giving the orders!” 

The only response he can give is a displeased grunt. 

“Not fair? Well, nothing is fair here, dear Sammy!” 

A high pitched, blood curling, manic laughter follows. 

“This is your life, but you’ll play by _my_ rules! Because I am the Prince, and the Prince rules!” the laughter continues, higher and more relentless, sounding completely insane “You will follow my orders, or else...!” 

Samuel keeps struggling in an attempt to free himself of the ropes, and the Prince concludes with a final cackle: 

“Let the games begin, dear Sammy!” 

The voice from the speaker cuts off and he hears a mechanical noise coming from above. A pair of rusty scissors descends upon his head, and then lower to the rope he is tied with. As soon as he’s freed, the scissors are lifted again, just out of his reach. He checks on the next room through a crack in the wall, but alas, the Prince has already left. 

A lament on the other end of the room begs to be heard. Two brooms dance in a circle, brushing the filthy floor gently as they shuffle to rearrange in a cross-like shape, as if to crack their worn out bones, but the body always seems ready to fall down at any movement, melting away due to the lack of stability. 

“I am the bucket knight, keeper of promises.” it emits in a kind yet strong and deep voice “Please bring me back my head and I will help you in return.” 

The unlucky boy nods and looks around for a suitable head, approaching eventually to bucket in a corner and putting it on the body. It’s very heavy to lift, he thinks he should give the knight the epithet of The Heavy. _Lopez_ The Heavy, to tribute his own hispanic origins. 

“Thank you. Unfortunately, I've aged and I don’t remember the past. Let’s recall our memories together to remember our promise.” 

“Our...Promise?” Sammy tilts his head. 

“You know what I’m talking about, and I know that you know...But you don’t know _right now_ , nor can you remember.” 

“I...I don’t understand.” 

“What are you looking for?” 

“I don’t know. I was...I was looking for something and—I don’t know what it is...Nor where it is.” he cries in distress, the bucket knight shuffles in deep thought. 

“Hard to tell for sure. Most likely the aristocrats took it somewhere. You should go look for them. A tribute for the Aristocrat Club is your only clue, anyway.” 

“Alright. Thank you.” 

He exits the room although reluctantly. The next room where the Prince was is locked, so he has no choice but to actually follow his orders and head to the Aristocrat Club. The corridors are dark and tight, he only sees pitch black beyond the metal bannisters. The place doesn’t even look like an orphanage anymore. There are metal gates and piles of heavy luggage stocked all around. 

While wandering, he encounters a door with two signs next to it. One says ‘Sector 8 Stairway’, the other one is a large paper taped onto the wall, ‘Red Crayon Aristocrat Club this way’ scribbled on it. 

Along with the door creaking as he opens it, he can hear something coming from the upper floor. It sounds like children playing, cheering for a friend: 

“DA-KO-TA! DA-KO-TA!” the chanting gets louder as he walks up the stairs. The door he sees now leads to a beautiful corridor, with wooden walls giving a much warmer feeling. Wooden chairs with green seats and back posts of fancy materials and antique lamps contrast with the red of the long carpet, enriching the environment. 

Sammy finds another poster. It lists the social ranks of the club: 

“Refined class:   
Duke & Duchess - Leo & Allison  
Marquis – Aiden   
Countess – Chrovos   
Baron – Mark   
Baronet – Buckey   
  
Lower class:   
Priest – Maine   
Knights – Reggie & Butch   
Poor – Dakota   
Miserable – Loco   
Beggar – Sammy"   
  
The corridor continues straight ahead and also branches on the sides. Sammy can see a blonde little girl on the end in front of him, taping a poster onto a door. When she notices him, she calls him. 

“Hey, you! You’re the new kid, aren’t you?” 

“Yes.” he mumbles in response “Yes, it’s me.” 

“Ah, finally.” she smiles, but her smile is not a relaxed one, it has mischief to it. She walks to him, giving him a light punch on the arm “Good old Sammy’s _finally_ showing up. I’ve been hearing about you for a while.” 

“Good things, I hope.” 

“HAH! Good for who, for _you_?” there is a venomous satisfaction in her rough tone, a glint in her blue eyes “You have no idea of how it works, do you?” 

“I have to bring a gift to the Aristocrat Club every month.” he replies quite sternly, prompting her stick her tongue at him. 

“Oh, excuuuuuse me, then! We’ll see how well you do on your own. The witch is not done cleaning yet, but I’m sure she’ll find some time to get your blood off this carpet if y--” 

“What’s the gift of the month?” he interrupts her. 

“I-- wh—HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT ME WHEN I TALK?! I OUTRANK YOU, YOU BEGGAR! YOU’RE A PEASANT! YOU DISGUST ME!” she starts yelling and pushes him, making him fall on his butt onto the floor. He apologizes as he gets up. 

“I’m sorry, Allison, I--” 

“What the hell did you just call me?!” 

“Allison. Is it...Not your name?” 

“No, it’s not my name, you idiot!” she barks back at him “I’m Dakota, not Allison!” 

“You called me a peasant, I thought you were from the upper class, here it says Dakota is ‘poor’--” 

“NOT ANYMORE! THEY NEED TO UPDATE THIS THING!” she groans, then grabs Sammy by his collar “I just brought them the biggest tribute, it’s nothing but a matter of time before I climb over all of them. Now I will become at least baroness, I promise, you crumb.” 

“Understood.” he nods, intimidated. As Dakota releases her grip, he goes to check the door on the end of the corridor. Below the poster, attached to it there is a wooden box with a drawer for putting in something. 

“Tardiness, cheating and stealing are against the rules.” prompts Dakota from behind “You can also bring in toys and junk if you want an exchange, but you must always bring the gift of the month.” 

The poster reads ‘This month’s gift: a beautiful butterfly. One per person.’ 

Two smaller children, one about seven years old and one about five, run around behind them long the corridors on the sides. Sammy seems startled, but Dakota rolls her eyes. 

“Who are they?” 

“No one important.” the girl smirks “Not to me. I’ll go back to my room, now.” 

“Aren’t you looking for the gift of the month?” 

“I already have it.” 

“But you taped the poster to the door just now...” 

Dakota’s face turns red immediately “It’s been here for weeks, you idiot, I was just putting it back because it fell off! ALSO, for your information, I have a steady supply, okay?! I have everything I need, and I won’t tell you where to find it!” 

She runs out of sight. Sammy doesn’t understand why she’s so mad, but he’s so deep in his thoughts already that he doesn’t even process where she went. The other children ran on the right side of the corridor, he figures he might as well follow them. As the moonlight shining from the windows on the end calls him, he peeks into them and notices a small propeller sticking out, nothing but the clouds surrounding it, all of a sudden he’s on an airship swimming through the night sky. He has no idea how he got there. 

He decides to check on the doors. The one that says ‘Library’ has someone pulling from the other side and he can’t seem to get in. He knows, he can see a kid with a bag over their head. He enters another door, whose label says ‘Sickroom’. The room is wide and near empty, it only contains a bed and a shelf. There are two drawings made by a child onto the wall, one depicting a rabbit – probably dear to the person drawing it – and one depicting a giant fish in the sky, under which there are happy children pulling it with a string like a kite. 

There is also a door to an adjacent room, the sick bay. Upon entering, he receives a smug look from the strict teacher, Mr. Malcolm Hargrove, sitting at the desk and writing something. 

“Dirty wretch, why are you always shirking your duties?!” 

Sammy remains unsettled, but doesn’t respond and merely lowers his head. There is a girl sitting on the cot, she has short brown hair and looks older than the rest of the children, about her mid-teens. She tenses up and averts his glance as soon as he walks up to her, whispering in a feeble voice: 

“How dirty...” 

She doesn’t add anything else, she only jumps off the cot and runs to a chest of drawers as Samuel gets close to it, she doesn’t want him to open it. What could it be so important that he’s not allowed to look? 

There’s really nothing he can say, he has no reason to talk to anyone who won’t speak to him. There is no one friendly he can talk to, no one he can expect some understanding from. What a poor, unlucky boy. 

He walks back into the corridor, checking the opposite direction, and there’s nothing but an empty dressing room. He might as well go back to where he came from. Downstairs amongst the luggage there is a small green butterfly. At first it is on the floor, then it swiftly flies away as a little boy in blue starts chasing it. The boy has poor posture, as if he’s never learned how to stand on two legs properly, and is barefoot. Another thing that stands out is that the boy has long unkempt hair. Sammy feels for him for some reason, it’s almost like he can immediately sense that Dakota is going to be mean to him. There even is the word ‘Loco’ sewn on the back of his shirt. Loco means crazy, what are they calling him crazy for? It’s very dehumanizing...Then again, there was a Loco listed in the rankings. Loco is ‘miserable’, according to the Aristocrats. What is Samuel supposed to think? 

Following him, he finds himself in a very large area. The first thing that catches his attention is a metal gate, through which he sees something hanging from the ceiling. Getting closer, he discovers that it’s a poor dog, tied by his paws with rope. The animals struggles and struggles, but the unlucky boy is unable to untie it. He must find another way. 

He tries one of the closest doors. There is a series of big animal cages: one contains a large pig, which is busy eating, one is labeled ‘Mary & Sally’ and contains two baby goats, then there are many smaller empty cages piled onto each other and finally one containing a rabbit. Tending to the rabbit there is another little boy, this one with short brown hair and dark eyes that look like black pearls. He wears an orange vest: 

“You’re the new kid, aren’t you?” he tries to smile, but he interrupts himself with a coughing fit, then swallows and clears his throat “I’m Isaac. Nice to meet you.” 

“Did you see the dog?!” 

“A dog?” he gives him a confused look “We don’t have a dog.” 

“There’s-- There’s one, just out of here, it’s tied up and hanging from the ceiling!” 

“I just came here and I didn’t see anything.” Isaac shrugs “I have to tend to these animals, now. Go without me.” 

“I-- Sure...Take care.” 

He’s kind of disappointed that that boy is not doing anything about the dog, but maybe he will take care of it once he’s done. He has to try another door, then. Has this place always been so massive? There’s something familiar about it. There’s a dining table in an open area with bunk beds. Sitting and mindlessly looking at his plate, there’s a teenage boy who seems to be cursing at someone under his breath. He looks very mean, Sammy doesn’t even bother this time and proceeds to look for the butterfly. He walks past him, into a door with a 10/11 marked next to it. On his right, there’s the doors to the men and women’s lavatory respectively. Straight ahead, next to a set of stairs which leads up, there’s a woman in a uniform who is cleaning the floor with a rag. 

“Hello.” she raises her glance for a moment, barely hiding annoyance and continuing passive aggressively “Did you come here to dirty my floor again with your filthy shoes?” 

“Sorry, I—I have to use the bathroom!” he lies as he runs immediately, letting out an embarrassingly loud scream as he sees a slender boy with long braids and a relaxed smile standing in front of a closed stall staring in his direction. 

“Oh, hello there!” he seems completely unfazed by the scream, and extends his hand “You must be the new boy. My name is Butch, I’m one of the knights of the Aristocracy.” 

“Nice to meet you...” Sammy shakes his hand reluctantly, he is still uncomfortable with him “I’m Samuel, you can call me Sammy.” 

“Like a nickname?” 

“Sure.” 

“That’s very nice of you.” 

“I...Guess? Why are you just standing in front of the stall?” 

“Oh, don’t mind me, I’m waiting for the witch to go away.” 

“The witch?” 

Butch laughs in response “Did you hear the news? Witches must love to clean. They always carry brooms, right? Sheila, that witch over there, has only got rags, though. Well, you should clean up like them, or else spooky things will come and do it!” 

“What-- What does that m--” he suddenly shivers seeing Butch widen his grin as he keeps staring at him “Okay. Thank you.” 

He turns back and tries to leave, but Butch calls his attention again: 

“Can I give you one last piece of advice?” 

“Uh. Sure.” 

“Always wash your hands before you leave the lavatory.” 

“But I didn’t even use--” 

“It’s important, you know.” he inches closer to the sink and opens the faucet “I still have learn it properly.” 

Samuel raises an eyebrow, unable to tell if Butch touched him after using the toilet without washing his hands or if he only came here to hide from the witch and is washing his hands without needing to. 

“I see...Well, I have to go, now.” 

“Good luck!” 

Samuel walks upstairs, past Sheila, to the guest room hall. While climbing he notices that scribbled with chalk onto the wall to his left there is an arrow with the writing ‘Clover field’ and a couple of clovers doodled next to it. 

The room has wooden walls, luxurious furniture and a nice carpet like the corridor leading to the Aristocrat Club. There is also a marble cherub exposed next to a pillar. There is a toddler crying very loudly, under it. Crying at the green butterfly onto the ground. Sam walks closer, and tries to reach for it, but the toddler stops crying and abruptly tries to stab his hand with a fork, looking at him dead in the eyes before leaving him alone in the room: 

“You _deserve_ to be gobbled up.” 

Samuel shivers as he hears those words. The green butterfly is still on the floor, but it’s dead and its wings are tattered. He grabs it along with the fork, it has very sharp prongs and can be useful. He looks around and spots four doors, each with a clover drawn onto it. One with one leaf, one with two, one with three and one with four. There is also a little piece of copper that does in fact resemble to the leaves of a clover. 

He ponders over it for a moment, and concludes that it’s part of a key, hence the drawings. It oddly makes sense, but it doesn’t matter, because now he can offer the butterfly he just found to the Aristocrat Club. He backtracks all the way through and once he gets amongst the luggage, he hears the crying again. This time it’s softer, quieter, but he thinks it might be the same kid. He gets closer. There _is_ someone crouching! From behind it looks like a very small child with a shaved head, wearing a black robe. 

“Hello?” 

The child doesn’t respond, so he has to get closer. 

“Are you okay?” 

The child turns. It’s actually not a child! That thing, that creature, has an almost ghoulish appearance. It has grey skin and a dark, black mouth with nothing inside. Its eyes are gauged out, only pitch black inside of them. It approaches the boy speaking gibberish, tackling him.   
Sammy struggles to get it off, and reluctantly brandishes the fork as a weapon, hand shaking. It’s sharp enough, maybe it can work, because it _has_ to work, it’s all he has. He squeezes his eyes closed and stabs repeatedly, sometimes feeling like he’s just going through it, sometimes actually feeling the monster on the other end, and finally he hears a raspy, drawn out scream. As he opens his eyes again, the little imp is still there, laying on the floor in a puddle of blood. The gauged eye sockets staring at him and blaming for the atrocity he just committed. He only wanted to defend himself and now he’s the monster, filthier than filth itself. What a poor, unlucky boy. 

Back to the Sector 8 stairway, he can faintly hear a child speaking. They seem to be reading a fairytale: 

“Once upon a time...Th-there was an... Unlucky girl. All she want—All she wanted was to be happy. So, she went to a clo-- ...Clover field. She found a one-leaf clover...But she dropped it on the road. She found a two-leaf clover, b-but it slip—it slipped into the sh-shadows...Shadows...” 

The voice becomes louder in the First Class Guest Sector. 

“She found a three-leaf clover...But a witch hid it away.” 

More precisely, it seems to be coming from the library. 

“She wanted to find a four-leaf clover...B-but she was too...Unlucky.” 

Sammy peeks through the keyhole. There are two little boys sitting at the table, next to a bright green lamp. The older one is about seven, with chocolate brown skin and a shaved head, black baby curls starting to regrow. From here, probably because of the light, it looks like his eyes have a very faint yellow glow to them. He’s teaching the younger child how to read. The younger child is about five and has pale skin and straight black hair almost to his shoulder. He has a little shark toy in his hand, and moves it through the page by its tail to follow the words as he rereads over and over. 

Sammy figures he shouldn’t disturb them and heads to the box. He carefully places the butterfly inside, but it is quickly returned from whoever is on the other side of the door: 

“You call this a beautiful butterfly?! Are you blind?!” scoffs a girl’s voice “Bring me a _beautiful_ , beautiful butterfly! Then you shall be invited to join the Aristocrat club.” 

The green butterfly is given back to him through the drawer underneath the box, and the children from the library run away, the smaller one giggling while lagging behind: 

“How fast are you? Wait for me, Aiden!” 

“Come on, we have to go.” his voice has a strange sound, soft but and welcoming but at the same time cold and dead. It’s a very unusual tone for a child. An unusual tone for anyone, really. 

The name seems familiar. As soon the kids leave, Samuel checks the rankings again. He’s very high on the rankings, second only to the pair of the duke and duchess. He’s listed as the marquis of the Aristocrats. He seems to have dropped something. It’s a copper key, attached to it there is a leaf like the one in the Clover Field. This must be the key for the two-leaf clover door! Samuel shall head there immediately, yes. He opens the door to the stairs. 

Who is that?! It’s yet another child, one he hasn’t seen before. How many children are there on this airship?! This one has a distant look, bald much like the imp he saw before, and also wearing a robe, but it’s not a monster, it’s a real child. The robe is white and goes all the way to the floor, and it resembles a priest’s vestment. The poster did reference a priest in the rankings, his name is Maine. Maine is standing still, without saying anything, and hands Sammy a book. Then he signs with his hands the words ‘Stray Dog’. Is he mute?   
The book is handwritten and it has little doodles in crayons to go with the story: 

“ _The marvel of Peru stood in the sunlight_   
_With her leaves withering away._   
_Her brother the Sunflower stood taller without spite,_   
_Wonderfully meant for every ray._

_She would impatiently wait for the stars to align,_   
_For the night to put her brother to sleep,_   
_For her petals and leaves in her time to shine_   
_Like she was the most beautiful secret to keep._

_One day the Sunflower got angry at her_   
_For not listening to what he had to say,_   
_But every word of his gave her mold._   
_So_ _she sprayed him with poison and let his death occur,_   
_But little did she know as she ran away_   
_He'd warned her that moving would have her die from cold._ ” 

Sammy tilts his head trying to understand. There are no dogs at all mentioned in the story...Oh! The dog hanging from the ceiling! Maybe this boy knows something? As soon as Samuel raises his eyes from the book, he notices that Maine is gone. 

Proceeding through the Sector 8 passage, he hears a noise coming from a door close to him. He figures there would be someone in the room, but it’s empty. There are a couple of shelves but mostly chalk scribbles all over. There’s a large drawing of a cat’s head, and in the space corresponding to one of the eyes there is a small hole. Peeking into it, Sammy can see the room with the pole he was tied to. He can even see the scissors. He shall use them to free the dog, but how? They’re still up high. He looks around the room and finally finds a button. Thankfully, it works: the mechanism is operated and the scissors are lowered to the floor. 

Samuel immediately fetches the scissors and runs to the turbine area in sector 9 where the dog is and cuts the rope. The cute dog is freed, and seems to be fine. It’s a male Labrador Retriever with golden brown fur. He has a collar, onto which ‘Wash’ is carved. 

“Wash?” the boy calls him, to which the dog barks as a response. Wash seems to be a friendly companion, as he licks Sammy’s hand in gratefulness. Poor doggy must’ve been in lots of pain while hanging from his paws. Sammy is relieved to see that he follows him around the airship. Suddenly, on the way to the Clover Field, Wash starts barking. 

The whispers of the imp can be heard, in fact Sammy can hear many of them. He sees Sheila for a moment, she’s screaming. The imps are grabbing her. Some of them have brooms and use them to hit her. Why are they doing that? If there are imps, why did nobody do anything about it?! 

Wash quickly runs after them and Sammy follows, but they have closed one of the doors behind them. He tries to open the Two-leaf Clover door, and the key seems to fit just fine, but it doesn’t work. In fact, the one leaf attached to key falls out. Perhaps it was the wrong door. Maybe it was the key for the One-leaf Clover door. That door doesn’t open either. Samuel remains still in the Clover field with a broken key and nowhere to go. What a poor, unlucky boy. 

Wash seems interested to key and gets closer to sniff it. Then he wants to sniff the copper leaves. He starts barking. Does he want him to attach them back to the key? What will that solve?   
Sammy takes one copper leaf, gently places it on the key and it fuses with it. Now he has the One-leaf Clover. This time, the door for it opens. 

A new corridor waits ahead, there are several numbered rooms, but they all seem to be closed so far. In the middle of the corridor, with a hand placed on the wall in front of him, the profile of yet another new boy who Samuel hasn’t met before. This one has blue eyes and short brown hair, and he too wears white clothes, but these are fancy clothes rather than a priest’s robe. Tucked on his belt, he has a wooden sword. He must be Reggie, the other knight. With a look of annoyance, he clicks his tongue at mumbles at Sammy in a thick British accent he can't locate specifically: 

“Why you?! Go away, go away...I’m a shadow, a shadow...!” 

Sammy doesn’t quite understand what he means, but as he turns around he notices the Wash found something next to Reggie: it’s Sheila’s hat. 

“Wash, can you follow Sheila’s scent if I give you the hat?” 

Wash barks with enthusiasm. He leads him out of the corridor, back in the Clover Field, and starts scratching onto the Two-leaf Clover door. Sammy attaches the other copper leaf that he has to the key, and now has the Two-leaf Key. He opens the door successfully to another corridor structured more or less the same way, with numbered rooms. There is also a cafeteria, and he takes a peek to see if he can find something useful. There is a bone that he can feed to Wash, and he keeps it in his pocket. There is also a small knife, and he decides to carry that as a weapon instead of the fork. 

Back in the corridor again, he sees Wash scratch on a door that is labeled with a name instead of a number, ‘Connie'. The room is very dark and he can’t see anything. There is a dirty rag near the bed. In this dark room, the unknown occupant speaks in a shrill voice: 

“I was once a mighty witch. Yet now, I am but a powerless wretch. Rubbish and dust. My precious, precious key. I hid it secretly...I hid it in a pure and dirty place. Your eyes cannot find it, you poor, unlucky boy...” 

Sammy believes that he can find it by making Wash follow the smell of the rag, but as he exits the room he is soon distracted by the boy in blue that was chasing the green butterfly running on the other end of the corridor. Too bad, there is a pile of crates blocking the way. He has to find a way around it, but isn’t sure how. He decides therefore to go through with his plan and follow the scent of the dirty rag. 

Wash leads him to the Crew Cabin of Sector 10, where there was that mean looking teenage boy at the table. He’s still there, actually, glaring at him through thick glasses. He has beautiful emerald eyes and raven hair. Shame that he doesn’t seem friendly at all, and he’s still cursing under his breath at God knows what. Sammy has to get past him, anyway. 

Wash scratches the door labeled 10/11. Right after it, on the wall on the left, there is a panel that is made of cloth. Strangely, Samuel didn’t pay much attention to it before. Wash picks at a corner with his maw, and pulls it to reveal a small alcove. There is a bucket, and inside of it there is another copper leaf. Now Sammy has the Three-leaf Key, and this one too works. 

Inside the Three-leaf Clover door there is in fact the other side of the corridor, with more labeled rooms. The door labeled ‘Dakota’ is slightly open, and peeking into it Sammy spots the boy in blue from before, on all fours on the floor, looking at a box. It’s not nice, but he’ll call him Loco in his head until he finds out his real name, it can't be Loco. There are a few pictures hung on the walls, depicting Dakota next to a boy about her age that is dressed in similar clothing as her. Maybe her brother? It’s hard to tell, his face is scribbled all over with a red crayon in a fit of rage, so vigorously that some of the pictures are in fact damaged in that area. The word ‘DIE!’ is on top of him, underlined a few times. She must’ve really hated him. Maybe he was some ex friend, why would anyone hate their sibling?   


Apparently that detail caught Loco’s attention as well, because for a moment he stares at the faceless child in the picture and mutters something: 

“He becomes gift...Dakota still sweep...” 

That doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t mean anything! ...Does it? Loco doesn’t seem disturbed, though, he’s rather absent minded, and then goes back to focusing on the box anyway. Looking more closely, it’s a butterfly case. There is a single butterfly inside. Samuel opens the door and approaches him, but as Wash barks at him, Loco growls back. He _barks_ back, too. 

“I found butterfly!” he then speaks to Sammy, something is off with his speech, he has some trouble speaking correctly as if he’s still learning. Maybe he’s foreign? No, he’s not foreign, he’s _feral_ – focus, Sammy! He was _growling_ at you! “It mine! I no give to you! I no lose to you!” 

He snatches the butterfly off the case and runs out, Samuel is tempted to follow him, but Wash grabs the case with his mouth. 

“Right...” he shakes his head “Let’s go find a butterfly.” 

He keeps exploring the corridor and suddenly Wash barks at a window. There is a beautiful blue butterfly delicately posed onto it, but it flies away. He has to chase it all the way back to the Clover Field. It will surely make a satisfactory gift. All he has to do is catch it...But here are the whispers again: 

“Place wastepaper in the rubbish bin and laundry in the Filth Room.” 

The butterfly is drawn to the chandelier. 

“Stray Dog gives us sweets...” 

The butterfly flies up high towards the light. 

“Stray Dog kidnaps kids.” 

All the four doors start to creak open. 

“Stray Dog comes at night...” 

Brooms start poking out of them. 

“Children who don’t clean up will be punished...” 

The butterfly hits the light and falls dead to the floor. 

“Hello, boys and girls...” 

Many imps slowly start coming out of the doors into the clover field. 

“...It’s time for some cleaning!” 

Wash starts barking like crazy, and Sammy’s vision gets blurred as they are surrounded. They are too many, he can’t fight, even with a knife. He must run. Run for his life. First downstairs, but there are still imps following, to the Crew Cabin of Sector 10 – the teenage boy isn’t there anymore, and there are imps following him. To the turbine area, there are still imps following. They’re everywhere! What a poor, unlucky boy. 

He runs, runs, runs for his life and only gets to safety once he reaches the box to make the offering. Right behind him, arrives Dakota, pushing him aside to get there first. She has a broom in one hand, just like the imps. The bristles are all bloody. In the other she has a butterfly for the Aristocrats. 

He blocks her with an arm before she can proceed to make her offering “Where is your brother?” 

“He’s dead. All my family’s dead, it’s part of being an orphan!” she tries to sound snarky, but she’s clearly deeply upset by that question. If he died before she got here, why is she angry at him? Is it her way to cope with the loss? “Why the hell do you care?!” 

“Nothing, I just--” 

“YOU WANT TO MAKE FUN OF ME, DON’T YOU?!” she snaps, fists clenched. The butterfly’s wings make a crinkling noise. Its eyes have probably exploded, but Sammy can’t bring himself to look. 

“What? Why would I do something like that?” 

“Because it turns out that they did update the rankings. I brought the biggest offering that Aristocracy has ever seen, and I didn’t move up one rank!” 

“What does that have to do with anything? I’m talking about your b--” 

“I _know_ what you’re talking about...” her tone suddenly becomes cold “ _You_ don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

He gulps as he watches her make her offering and enter the door. It quickly gets shut again so that he can make his. He drops the blue butterfly in, someone opens the door, and then he receives a kick in the back that makes him fall inside. 

He’s on his knees, and raises his glance. A long reddish carpet with many candles on the sides leads to this huge makeshift altar made of stacked crates covered with white sheets, forming a pyramid-like shape. There are roses and rose petals all over them as a decoration. There they are: the Aristocrats. 

On the very top of the pyramid, there is a chair. No one is sitting in there, but there is a small teddy bear, perhaps as a placeholder. Under it, there’s the Marquis between two other people, the teenage boy that was sitting in the crew cabin and a teenage girl of the same age – both being fourteen at max – with fair skin, blue eyes and long golden curls. Both very tall, emphasizing even more how tiny he is. They are holding hands, they must be Leo and Allison, the Duke and the Duchess. 

Under them, other three kids that Sammy has never seen before: two boys, one dressed in light blue with a sad broody look in his eyes and one dressed in teal with a smirk on his face who somehow seems to be side-eyeing everyone at once, and a girl with a long olive green dress. Under them, the Knights and the Priest in the middle, and finally at the bottom of the pyramid, standing on the floor there are a shivering Loco, Dakota and the two smaller children that he saw before. The Marquis has a book in his hands, and starts reciting from it aloud to make an announcement: 

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Aristocrat Club. Thank you all for gathering here today.” 

The Duchess cracks her neck and jumps off the pyramid, walking to Samuel with an arrogant demeanor. There is something tomboyish about the way she acts, and her courtsy is done improperly, _inappropriately_ even. She lifts her dress way too high, and Sammy immediately flushes red seeing her thighs so exposed, there is even a bandage on one of them and he feels like he was not supposed to see it. She doesn’t seem to mind and gives him a mischievous expression. She then turns to look to the Duke, who reaches her and kisses her hand, then bows to Sammy as well. 

The Duke cups his face with his hands, eyes switching from Sammy to the jar were the gifted butterflies are kept, to Sammy again, finally staring at him with a delighted expression, a sadistic delight. Sammy wants to look away, but his eyes are too piercing. There’s something strange about them, they are overwhelming, too many things at once are _screaming_ from the other side and it’s impossible to pinpoint what their sentiment is, but it’s an unbearably strong one. Finally, he speaks, anger showing through his voice: 

“You’re a disgrace. Nothing, worse than nothing!” he shakes the poor boy “Your gift. Is worth. NOTHING!” 

He pushes him on the floor, and all the other kids are laughing. While getting up again, he turns to the Duchess and only in that moment his expression becomes clear, it’s a look of pure adoration towards her. She kisses him on the forehead and smiles at him briefly, more as a sign of approval than actual affection. The sadistic delight shows up on her face as well: 

“Oh, Loooocooo?” she calls him in a sing-song tone. Loco runs to her immediately, and she pets his head “There, there...” 

Dakota gasps in offense. Did she want to be called instead? Too bad for her, the Marquis claps his hands and so do all the other Aristocrats while starting a chant: 

“LO-CO! LO-CO! LO-CO!” 

Why are they chanting? What’s happening? Samuel tries to get up, but his knees are weak from fear and he just falls back down again, almost knocking down the candles. His breath gets heavy as Loco fetches something from behind the pyramid and approaches him. It’s a long wooden pole with a live rat tied onto it. The rat moves its little paws, trying to free itself, but only scratches the boy’s cheek as Loco shoves it in his face, first reluctantly and then more vigorously. God, the rat smells so much, and it hurts, and it just feels horrible but Sammy feels so frozen that he can’t escape. 

A sudden rush runs through Loco’s body and the last thing that Samuel sees is his him emitting a loud howl. This is what Dakota wanted to do? She’s furious, with her brother dead and her broom bloody for nothing, but he can’t wonder any further as he loses consciousness. What a poor, unlucky boy. 

He wakes up in the burning orphanage again. The Priest stands in front of him, watching him. 

“You haven’t got your memory back, have you?” he signs with his hands “Well, you’ve done many bad things, you’ll just have to remember them little by little. When you remember what a bad boy you were, all of this will end. Now take your dog and continue with your little game, Sammy.” 

Samuel is confused and has no idea what Maine is talking about, but he notices a piece of paper in front of him. It’s the final part of the story: 

“ _The marvel of Peru stood in the sunlight_   
_With her leaves withering away._   
_Her brother the Sunflower stood taller without spite,_   
_Wonderfully meant for every ray._

_She would impatiently wait for the stars to align,_   
_For the night to put her brother to sleep,_   
_For her petals and leaves in her time to shine_   
_Like she was the most beautiful secret to keep._

_One day the Sunflower got angry at her_   
_For not listening to what he had to say,_   
_But every word of his gave her mold._   
_So_ _she sprayed him with poison and let his death occur,_   
_But little did she know as she ran away_   
_He'd warned her that moving would have her die from cold._

_Envy is merely a_ _honour_ _suicide in front of inadequacy.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Susan for reading the Clover Field out loud in-game, this wouldn't have been possible if she didn't do that. ~~THANK YOU SUSAN I OWE YOU MY LIFE~~


	3. May, 1930: Sir Peter (& the proud knight)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sammy has to find Sir Peter to gift to the Aristocrat club. He earns a new position, but it comes with a price...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: canon typical bullying and animal cruelty, transphobia, implied/referenced CSA  
> This is the first chapter where there are - in my opinion - scenes graphic or disturbing enough to single out. There might be more in future chapters. Friendly reminder that the warning when the specific scene comes Friendly reminder that it is going to work like this:
> 
> ~○~  
> paragraph with graphic content  
> ~○~
> 
> You are free to ask me to add this warning to a specific scene that doesn't have it if you see fit.

Sammy and his loyal dog wake up in the filth room where they had been greeted by Lopez, who is still here. His bucket head leans down with a sad metallic noise as he acknowledges the child. What a poor, unlucky boy.

The door is slightly ajar, and a slip of paper is poking from under it. It seems to be taken from a little booklet or journal as it has a floral pattern. The message has a girly yet ungraceful calligraphy, like it was written angrily.

“I’m sorry, Sam.  
Meet me where you can see the sky.  
Your friend, Loco.”

Loco has trouble speaking, let alone writing. Someone must’ve written the letter for him. ‘Meet me where you can see the sky’…Where could that be? Sammy figures it could be the corridor that leads to the Aristocrat Club, as there are the large windows where he saw the propellers. How did he even end up on the ship?

On the way out, he meets the knights Butch and Reggie playing with brooms as makeshift swords. They practise diligently and don’t want to be disturbed. When talked to, Reggie will click his tongue at him, while Butch will stare at him without saying anything until he gets uncomfortable.

On the way to the windows, he notices the door to the salon right next to the corridor is open, and there stands Mark, the Baron, with an empty bird cage in his hands. A beautiful red bird flies about the room. The Baron stares intently at his pet and refuses to look at him.

Back in the corridor, he notices that Wash seems to bothered by something: he stops at the door of the sick bay and starts growling at it. The door is closed, and Samuel has to look through the keyhole.

~○~

Inside the sick bay there’s Mister Hargrove, who is now gently patting the head of the Duke Leo, much to his dismay. There is also the girl with short brown hair, wrapping bandages around his wrists. Mister Hargrove’s pants are unbuttoned, which is strange because he is a person that pays a lot of attention to detail, they must be too tight for him. Either way, he pays no mind and smiles at the boy.

“You need to calm down, dear.” The old man’s tone is affectionate, but the affection is not genuine, it’s fake, morbid, there’s something wrong with it “It’s not by hurting yourself like this that you should voice your protests.”

“I don’t think so. If I die, I die under your responsibility, then when the police gets you, _because the police will get you_ , we’ll see who has the last laugh…And if they don’t come for me, they’re going to come for Dakota’s brother, and at that point--”

“How would you be able to know who has the last laugh if you’re not there to see it?” he laughs heartily “I’m always fascinated by how naïve you are, Leonard. There are so many things you’re not taking into account still, but don’t worry: you’ll figure them out once you become a man…”

He hums as he strokes his head, making him pull away quite violently, but the girl asks him to stay still:

“Leo, don’t move, I’m almost done…”

“When you’re done, Connie, could you please leave us alone? Little Leo and I have to discuss something that wouldn’t be appropriate to do in front of a lady.”

Upon being called ‘Little Leo’, the Duke groans and gives Hargrove a push with his free arm. Connie tenses up so much that she hurries up to finish, doing a relatively botched job, and leaves through the door that’s in the sickroom. Sammy doesn’t think about the fact that the sickroom too leads to the exact corridor where he is, and when Connie spots him he raises his hands, afraid that he’ll be in trouble.

“Don’t look, you’re gonna get hurt.” Is what she says in a fearful tone, before running away. Yet he does keep on looking, ignoring that sound advice and venturing into a world darker than he can comprehend. What a reckless, silly unlucky boy.

“You’re not going to get away with this, I swear I’m going to stop you.” Growls the Duke, still sitting on the cot.

“You’re really in love with that girl, aren’t you?” he asks in an almost mocking tone.

“Yeah, and we’ll run away together after I’m done with you.”

“Mmm, right.” Hargrove cups his face and leans in to look at him in the eyes “Oh, to be young and passionate like you again…You truly are a beauty to look at.”

“Well, look at me all you want, but stay away from Allison!”

“You see, you can wait for someone to save you, you can wait for the police, but what can you do on your own to protect her? Not much, I’m afraid.”

“I’ll kill you if I have to!”

“Well spoken like a true brat!” he laughs “Didn’t think I had to explain again what’s the difference between men and little boys, but looks like you haven’t quite _grasped it_.”

He puts an emphasis on those last words as he starts pulling the boy’s hair, pushing him down despite his protests, so violently that he falls of the cot and ends on his hands and knees. Sammy’s reaction to that is flinching away from the door, he’s not sure why but he’s deeply disturbed by what he saw and he doesn’t have the courage to look again. He can only hear the man faintly hum as he repeats ‘Good boy, good boy…’

~○~

The unlucky boy completely withdraws from the door. With a bit of hesitation, he decides to open the door to the sickroom next to it. The room is occupied, there is Isaac laying in bed, slowly opening his eyes and nodding as a greeting.

“Hi. Are you feeling better?”

“I’m fine, but…Mr Bunny is gone. He was taken by the Aristocrats…” he clears his throat attempting to hold back an actual cough “Please save him.”

“The Aristocrats…?! What did they do now?!”

“I don’t know, but we don’t have much time…He might be the next gift of the month, for all we know.”

“Oh no!” he gasps “They’re going to kill him!”

“Yeah…” Isaac sits up, then looks down at Wash “Are you sure you want to walk around with that dog? It’ll make you a target.”

“I can’t leave him alone, they’ll hurt him too!”

“Right.” He croaks, before having a coughing fit. “Just, please be careful.”

“I will.”

“But…You’re coming back to see me, one of these days, right?”

“Of course.” Samuel nods “I’m going to look for the bunny, now.”

“Okay…See ya.”

“See ya.”

He exits the room. Come to think about it, he still has to go see Loco. He is going to have to look for both the bunny and him, but seeing that he’s not nearby, Sammy decides to go back downstairs. There should be an elevator somewhere, it’s in the Sector 6. Loco is boarding it and going up. Sammy follows him, but the upper floor only consists of wooden platforms with two ladders going up, and he decides not to bring Wash along. Climbing the second ladder, he finds himself on top of the ship, where he can see the sky.

It is a dark and starless night. Looking closely, he can see someone moving in the faint light at the other end of the area: it’s Loco, crouching and crying.

“I’m sorry, Sammy. I no wanted to do that, it too scary…”

Noticing his presence, Loco turns to Sam and crawls towards him:

“SAMMY! SAMMY!”

He grips his legs.

“I did duty! I have no choice, or they hurt us both!”

He starts to stand up again, still holding Sam and making him fall as he tugs him.

“I’m sorry! When your turn, no hold back!” he pulls his hand, curling it into a fist and shoving it in his own face “Do like this! And this! And this!”

He cries more and more desperately as he keeps moving Samuel’s hand, and as the other pulls away he smiles between his tears, hoping to have lessened his fault in his eyes.

“We still friends, right? I trust you!”

He crawls over Sam to go back inside. Little do they know that Duchess Allison was watching.

He’s only half convinced by Loco’s words, and although he’s not sure what to say to him he still wants to talk. For this reason, it’s better to go find him. He shows the floral letter to Wash, who follows the scent. However it doesn’t take him to Loco, rather to Dakota who is using a sewing machine in a room near the Cargo Bay, labelled ‘Working class luggage’. Of course, she must’ve been the one who wrote the letter for him.

“Oh, Sam.” She scrunches her nose “Loco wanted me to make a gift just for you.”

“A gift? Really?”

“Mhm. I’m the one who does the sewing here, and apparently he thinks we’re buddies or something so he asked me this favour, the stupid peasant.”

“Then why are you sewing stuff for me, if you don’t want to?”

“Oh, I’m not! This dress is for Chrovos.”

“The Countess?”

“You really think that that’s a girl?” Dakota emits a shrill laugh “That’s not a girl, it’s not even a boy, that’s why its parents threw it away!”

“How is possible that they’re not a girl nor a boy?”

“It is possible if you’re born a freak!”

“If Chrovos was not born a boy nor a girl, then she’s the one who decided she’s a girl, right?”

“And? If I decide I can fly, I’m not gonna turn into a bird.” She sticks her tongue out “I can call her a she, but still it would mean that _she_ is just being weird.”

She is distracted by the light sound of a paper ball being thrown against the metal fence. With an irritated groan, she gestures to Sam that he should go see.

‘SAMMY REPORT TO THE GIFT BOX AT ONCE’, says the paper.

“I have to go upstairs, now.” He announces “See you around.”

“Whatever.”

On the way to the box, in the stairway, he finds the boy with the shark toy, who is nervously looking around.

“Are you looking for the bunny too?” asks Sammy, to which the child nods.

“Peter smells like poo!” he whines “He’s so stinky, I don’t want to touch him! Stinky, stinky, go away!”

Upon arriving at the corridor, Wash barks in the direction of the gift box on the other end: it’s completely crushed, and the poster says ‘ONE HORNED PETER RAN AWAY! CATCH HIM! CATCH HIM!’. Did Peter run away? Is he responsible for this?

Not knowing where to look for him, he decides to try the only nearby room he hadn’t entered, the library. The Marquis Aiden sits at the desk, swinging his legs as he reads a book with intense focus. Feeling the presence of Sammy and his dog, he raises his glance and speaks coldly:

“Sir Peter has run away. You are to find him immediately. You and…” a slightly disgusted grimace appears on his face for a second while he nods towards the corner of the room “Loco.”

Loco is crouching on all fours, playing with some toy trains. So that’s why they call him Loco! Sammy had figured it was an insult given how terribly they behaved.

“Peter near here! I’m sure!”

Right as he exits the library, Sammy is startled again by the Priest Maine, who starts signing:

“I have more messages from Stray Dog. They’re in the filth room.”

Seriously, who is Stray Dog? And why does this Stray Dog have a message for him?! He probably has no choice other than finding out himself. Before going to the filth room, though, he is compelled by a sinister, fearful curiosity to go check the sick bay again. This time too he peeks through the lock, as a safety measure.  
  
He cannot comprehend what he sees, as Mister Hargrove is sitting at the desk but is tied up, courtesy of the pair of the Duke and Duchess and a couple of imps as if it’s completely normal. He’s not sure that the people are acknowledging the imps’ presence, is he the only one who can see them?

“Little brats!” his tone sounds strained, but then culminates in a sigh.

“Does it hurt?” the Duchess Allison asks mockingly as she pulls one of the ropes, with an evil glint in her eyes.

“Mmm…Yes…” he replies, but he seems almost pleased. Maybe he’s defying them?

“GOOD!” the Duke sounds enthusiastic for once, pulling on the ropes too, much harder than Allison does, being as violent as he can, as tough as he can. She seems delighted, and adds with a sultry voice:

“You can’t separate us, old man. Either you get us adopted out together, or we’re staying here making your life hell.”

One of the imps says something in gibberish, and the kids laugh. Is that a response to what the imp said? Can they see them, can they understand them? Or are they just laughing because of what they’re doing? Samuel doesn’t want to think about it and concludes that yes, maybe he should just go to the filth room.

The filth room is now scribbled with blood red drawings of a window and a giant fish, plus what looks like some nursery rhyme accompanied by the doodle of a group of imps sweeping Sir Peter in a bag with their brooms.

  
“Sir Peter, Sir Peter, he went for a stroll.  
Sir Peter, Sir Peter, put in a cage, he had to hold it in.  
Sir Peter, Sir Peter, needs to go right now, doesn’t want to sin.  
Sir Peter, Sir Peter, bagged and whisked away, before he found a toilet. Goodbye, Sir Peter, goodbye.”

  
There are also foul smelling black pellets all over the floor. Tied to the pole where the scissors were, there is a booklet. It’s titled ‘The proud knight’:

“Among the beauties of the Kingdom a boy stood proud,

The most beautiful boy the king had ever seen

With his body tall and his voice loud

And his heart louder through eyes shining emerald green.

The boy wanted to become a knight

And to rejoin with his lover,

So he started to train and fight ,

Devoted like no other.

His lover was locked and tied

Up in a castle watched by a dragon with its skin shedding .

The king, who wanted him by his side,

Said that if he won he'd bless their wedding.

The more the boy was devoted, the more he lost,

The more king in fact saw his appeal.

The boy wanted to win no matter the cost,

But the king offered to knight him regardless as long as he'd kneel.

When his pride could only make him refuse,

The king forced him on his knees and grabbed his sword

Then firmly put it to use:

He cut off his head

And stabbed his lover dead,

So the bratty knight lost his mind and now his beauty's just a word.”

The tale invokes a strange feeling in the unlucky boy, but he’s not able to piece it together completely. Either way, he has something else to focus on, he has to find Peter and bring them to the Aristocrats. He thinks about Isaac, wondering if it’s the same bunny, but maybe it’s not, maybe Isaac’s bunny is just somewhere hopping around or in a different cage or—

He sighs. It was not his decision to become a member of the Aristocrats. He received a death threat, he has to do what they want. Isaac will be fine, hopefully…  
  
Following the smell of Peter’s droppings, Wash leads Sammy across the ship. They do spot the rabbit a few times, but he’s very fast and there apparently are kids opening and closing the doors for him to slow down their research and get to him first. They follow the rabbit all the way around that floor, from the backup parts room to the middle class luggage to the crew cabin where they first saw the Duke Leo. Peter is under the table, but as soon as Sammy steps towards him, the bunny leaps out and hops out of sight, and suddenly many horrible imps fall from the ceiling. Some of them have rabbit heads!

They are too many to even think of putting up a fight, all Samuel can do is run away. Wash barks at the imps, bites them a little bit even, but eventually searches for a way out. He scratches on a door, but as the child tries to open it he finds another imp with a bag on his head closing it from the other side. What a poor, unlucky boy.

He has to go another way, and he’s preoccupied with running from the imps for a bit until he arrives to the Sector 7 Cargo bay where he is met by complete silence and bristle marks on a floor splattered with blood. He timidly moves a few steps, peeks over a corner, only to spot another group of imps hitting a bloody bag with their brooms. When they notice his presence, they turn to him but don’t attack him, instead walk away. He can hear them speak gibberish to someone. That someone being Mister Hargrove, standing and walking but still bound with rope, one arm tied to his face and one holding a pointing stick. Sammy can’t understand what they’re saying at first, but then realizes they are blaming him as the headmaster starts walking – well, limping due to the restraints – towards him:

“Why you! Little rat, Samuel! Did you make a mess again? This is unforgivable, you dirty…Dirty boy! Fool!”

All the boy has with him is that little sharpened fork he found. Even with the restraints, Hargrove easily charges at him very fast and hits him with the stick. Seeing his friend in pain, Wash starts barking, and the headmaster starts focusing on him. Samuel manages to sneak up on him and stab him repeatedly with his fork, but of course that hardly does any damage.

Hargrove turns back to him and tackles him, crushing him under his weight, and it takes a long while before he can push him away, but thankfully Wash jumps at him and starts biting. Finally teaming up, the unlucky boy and his dog lay more and more hits, stabbing and biting, stomping and scratching. In the end, when the man drops on the floor, the imps arrive to hit him with their brooms and drag him away.

Sammy takes a few moments to take deep breaths and regain his energy. On the floor there still is the bloody bag. It’s very warm. Peter must be inside, but he doesn’t have the courage to look. Still he picks it up and walks back upstairs to take it to the gift box. There he finds Loco, crouching on all fours on the way between him and the door.

“We great team! Hand me Peter, I give to them for us!”

At first Sammy doesn’t want to and refuses, but then Loco starts to growl and bark, unintimidated by Wash and almost ready to bite him. Not wanting him to attack him or his dog, Sam reluctantly extends the bag, but Peter is alive and well despite the hits and leaps out of it, hopping to the next room on his own, so Loco starts chasing him.

Sammy follows as well, and as he moves steps further into the pitch black darkness on the other side of the door, he finds himself in a forest. His loyal friend isn't with him anymore. The bag containing Peter is being lifted up high among the trees using ropes, on silent commands of the priest. The rest of the children are there, singing as they proceed with this ritual:

“Monday’s gift was a sight to see,

Tuesday’s gift almost made it free,

Wednesday’s gift didn’t think to flee,

Stray Dog will have his gifts.”

The unlucky boy has to fight all his fear to get closer, spying from behind the bushes, at which he’s startled by Loco who somehow pops up behind him.

“Low class pray from distance.”

He nods, then squints to make out the detail of what he’s watching: the Marquis Aiden bows to the priest and then reads from his book.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Aristocrat club. I wish to thank you for gathering here today.”

The Duchess looks around, fully aware that the lower class members are there as well, and again calls out with a sing-song tone, delighted:

“Oh, Saaaaaammyyyyy?”

Hearing the call, he hesitantly approaches them. As he does so, he trips, now in display for all of them to watch and ridicule.

“May I have your attention…” the Marquis continues “This is a message from the Prince of the Red Rose. The message reads: Samuel, your efforts this month deserve special recognition. You managed to find Peter, and will be amply rewarded.”

Loco shakes in reaction to the ‘rewarded’ bit.

“Thus concludes the message from the Prince.”

“Splendid work, Sammy.” The Duke claps, probably quite sarcastically “You are no longer a wretched peon. Loco, on the other hand, has been demoted.”

He nods towards a poster attached to a tree, and the rankings have been updated:

Duchess – Allison  
Duke – Leo  
Marquis – Aiden  
Countess – Chrovos  
Baron – Mark  
Baronet – Buckey  
  
Priest – Maine  
Knights – Reggie & Butch  
Dame – Dakota  
Peasant – Sammy  
Miserable - Loco

“Locooo?” the Duchess insists on calling, and Loco is terrified. The Duke instead grabs the rat pole and hands it to him.

“It’s time, Sam.”

At first, the boy flinches, thinking he’s the one the pole is going to be used on, but as he realizes that he put it in his hand, he looks around nervously. He moves a couple of steps towards Loco. Is this what they want him to do? The children are chanting already…

“SAM-MY! SAM-MY! SAM-MY!”

Loco backs away, but trips on one of the ropes. Sam tries to reach him with the rat pole, but hesitates and withdraws it, he doesn’t want to do it. Leo still kicks him forward violently, forcing him to shove it into Loco’s face. Loco promptly loses consciousness at the contact.

Samuel quickly side eyes the Duke: again his eyes are glued on Allison, an eager look that is yes adoring, but mostly desperate. All the things he saw about them flash in front of him for a moment, but he doesn’t understand, and he is brought back to the present moment by an intense smell, at which he retracts the pole. As he gains an unfortunate glance at the rat’s rotten, worm ridden flesh emitting a nauseating smell, he feels he’s going to puke, tries to hold back but eventually in doing so he still finds himself unable to handle it and he, too, passes out.

He feels someone shake him. Opening his eyes, he sees Maine again amongst the flames.

“Do you remember now? Do you remember how much you’ve been bad?” he signs.

“I…What are you talking about?”

“I see. I’m going to have you read more stories, then. Here.”

He hands him another book, and this one too is the same he was given on the airship.

“The Proud knight:

Among the beauties of the Kingdom a boy stood proud,

The most beautiful boy the king had ever seen

With his body tall and his voice loud

And his heart louder through eyes shining emerald green.

The boy wanted to become a knight

And to rejoin with his lover,

So he started to train and fight ,

Devoted like no other.

His lover was locked and tied

In a castle watched by a dragon with its skin shedding .

The king, who wanted him by his side,

Said that if he won he'd bless their wedding.

The more the boy was devoted, the more he lost,

The more king in fact saw his appeal.

The boy wanted to win no matter the cost,

But the king offered to knight him regardless as long as he'd kneel.

When his pride could only make him refuse,

The king forced him on his knees and grabbed his sword

Then firmly put it to use:

He cut off his head

And stabbed his lover dead,

So the bratty knight lost his mind and now his beauty's just a word.

Moral: A grown man's pride is a rite of passage that no child can survive.”


End file.
